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Coacjjella 



IRiversibe 
County 



California 



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IK EXCHANQJE 



Coachella 



WE are receiving so many letters inquiring 
about Coachella Valley that we have 
printed this little pamphlet for the purpose 
of giving some general information regarding this 
w^onderfully productive Valley, as well as answering 
some of the leading questions asked by almost all 
•correspondents. 

The Coachella Valley is in Riverside County 
and is 1 30 miles from Los Angeles on the main 
line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, just half-way 
between Los Angeles and Yuma. The soil is a 
rich alluvial deposit of great depth and is extremely 
productive. It is supplied with an abundance of 
perfectly pure water both for domestic and irriga- 
tion purposes, by Artesian wells and pumping 
plants. 

Most people have an idea that this valley is a 
very dry place and that it takes an enormous amount 
of water to grow anything. The fact is water is 
obtained anywhere in the valley by digging shallow 
surface wells. In the vicinity of Coachilla it is 
only four feet down to where the earth is always 
moist and only twelve feet to water and lower down 



in the valley at Thermal and Mecca the water 
comes nearer the surface and this surface water is 
very fair domestic water, a great deal better than 
in many localities in California. Artesian wells 
are obtained at an average depth of 540 feet, good 
pumping wells about 1 00 to 150 feet. These 
wells furnish an abundance of water. There is 
approximately 65,000 acres in the entire valley. 
Probably one-half of this is susceptible to profitable 
cultivation. Of this about 1 0,000 acres is abso- 
lutely first-class land and will produce any kind of 
crop you may v/ant to grow. 

The famous Coachella Valley Canteloupes are 
grown to perfection here and are a most profitable 
crop, specially well-cared for patches paying 
$300.00 per acre and even better than that. The 
average returns to the growers in 1 903 were a little 
over $140.00 per acre and for this season — 1904 
—is $125.00 per acre. In 1903, 50 car loads 
were shipped and this season — 1904 — 154 cars 
were shipped. The shipping season commenced 
on the last of May and closed on the 1 9th of July 
and the money was all collected and distributed 
to the growers before the middle of August, and the 
land on which the mellons were grown is put into 
some other faH crops, usually corn or some fodder 
crop. 

Sweet potatoes are grown of very superior quality 
and bring fancy prices. The yield is enormous and 
there is nothing that gives more satisfactory results. 



All kinds of garden vegetables do well and the 
quality is of the very best. 

Perhaps the most valuable product of the valley 
is its alfalfa. The quality of this product is unsur- 
passed by any country and the yield is very heavy. 
The climatic conditions are such that the hay is 
cured in the most perfect condition, retaining all its 
good nutritous qualities as well as its bright color. 




BARLEY FIELD NEAR COACHELLA 

Wheat, oats and barley yield wonderfully heavy 
crops of either hay or grain. 

Asparagus does surprisingly well and is a money 
maker: while the acreage is small at present (about 
25 acres) the near future will see great develop- 
ments in this product. Its entire freedom from rust 
— the dry air prevents the development of the rust 



spores — and the phenomenal growth it makes and 
the ease with which it is propagated is bound to 
attract asparagus growers and shippers from all over 
the country. 

Poultry raisers find here almost perfect conditions 
for making a success of their business. The entire 
absence of mites, the dry air, the absence of fogs and 
dews and the freedom from storms, all help to make 
it profitable and the easy reach of an unlimited 
market insures success. 

As a dairy country this will prove to be unsur- 
passed. The enormous amount of feed produced 
on an acre of ground, the abundance of green feed 
the year round, the ease with which corn and other 
fodder plants are grown, the absolute certainty of 
plenty of feed all of the time and every year, the 
perfect purity of the water for all purposes, the 
healthy thrifty condition of cows that are kept in 
the valley — all encourage the beHef that a creamery 
will be successful and the organization of one is 
well under way and is expected to be ready for 
business before the end of this year. 

In this connection it may be said that a company 
has been formed for the purpose of putting up an 
ice and refrigerating plant to take care of especially 
the Cantaloupe crop, which uses an enormous 
amount of ice for refrigeration every season, and this 
company will operate a creamery in connection. 
The entire plant will cost about $35,000.00. The 
cash has been provided for and the plant is assured. 









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ALFALFA FIELD NEAR COACHEJ 




SECOND CUTTING FROM SEEDING 



The cantaloupe out-put of the valley is handled 
through an association of all of the growers and it 
has been very successful. As other products become 
of sufficient importance to require special care in 
securing markets the association will take them up 
in the same way. 







CANTAI^OUPE FIELD NEAR COACHELLA 

The proposed creamery at Coachella will be run 
on a co-operative plan. 

The towns of the valley are Indio, Coachella 
Thermal and Mecca. Indio is the oldest and has 
been the desert division point on the Southern 
Pacific Railroad for a good many years. It has 
acquired a reputation as a health resort and the N. 
O. Nelson health camps for consumptives is located 
-here. 



Thermal is a small place with a thrifty farming 
community surrounding. The Coachella Valley 
Producers Association has a packing house there. 
Mecca is the new town that takes the place of what 
has been known as Walters for a good many years» 
and it is near there that the government has located 
its Date farm. 

Coachella is the principal town of the valley. It 
is in the heart of a large body of the very finest 
land. It is here that the Coachella Valley Pro- 
ducers Association has its general office. 

The stuff grown for market in this valley is in 
good demand, not only on account of its earliness, 
but its extra fine quality as well, and consequently 
bring fancy prices, and the returns to the ranchers 
are very satisfactory. 

But farming in this country requires the same 
good judgment and careful attention to be successful 
as in any other country, but the man that uses ordi- 
nary intelligence and is industrious is certain to be 
successful. There is no locality in California that has 
any better opportunities for the small farmer and it 
is doubtful if its equal can be found. 

Anyone farming 1 acres with ordinary judgment 
can easily realize $1,000.00 a year from such a 
place. 

Land can be had at from $30.00 to $300.00 
per acre, but for the man with limited means a small 
tract near the shipping point v/ith plenty of water 
already on the land is without doubt the most de- 



sirable. Such a tract of 5 or 10 acres can be had 
at about $200.00 per acre, a small payment down 
and the balance in easy payments over a long time 
and a small rate of interest. 

Such a tract ought to yield readily $150.00 per 
acre per year. This is what they are doing right 
ilong. 

The profits from farming in the Coachella Valley 
are large and sure, and Coachella is the business 
center for the entire valley. The principal part of 
all the products must be assembled here for ship- 
ment. The Coachella Valley Producers' Asso- 
ciation, v/hich has made a national reputation for 
the excellent quality of the products of this valley 
and which handled over $175,000 worth of 
Coachella Valley products the past season (copy of 
the association annual report sent free on applica- 
tion), has its office here. 

The Coachella Valley Refrigerating Co. is erect- 
ing a $30,000 plant here for the purpose of taking 
care of the shipment of perishable products from 
the valley, and for promoting the dairy and poultry 
interests. The conditions for successfully carrying 
on either the dairy or poultry farm are unexcelled 
by any country on earth. If you doubt this and 
are interested investigate it and you will find we 
are right. 

The Coachella Artesian Water Co. is putting in 
a complete water system to cover the entire section 
about Coachella. This when completed will cost 



approximately $20,000 and the work is being 
pushed as rapidly as possible. 

Coachella town lots are a good investment, for 
the town is bound to be a good business point and 
a residence place for anyone who wants to live 
quietly and really enjoy living and breathe the 
purest, most bracing air that ever entered their 
lungs, — and one really enjoys breathing here: there 
is something exhilarating and recuperative about it 
that is hard to explain, but is very enjoyable. The 
winter climate is the finest in the world. During 
the spring there is considerable wind and dust, but 
no more than in other valleys. The summer is hot, 
yet you will hear no more complaints of the heat 
here than in other places in California. The canta- 
loupe harvest comes during the hottest part of the 
year, yet the fields are picked over twice every day 
and there is no difficulty in getting plenty of people 
to do the work. There are no cases of sunstroke or 
heat prostration. 

Respectfully, 

J. L. RECTOR, Secy., 

C. V. P. Ass'n. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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